Two small but important steps forward for same sex couples

I hesitate to make too much of small things. On the one hand i don't want to blow them out of proportion. On the other i don't want to jinx a process that might be just in its early stages. But despite those two concerns I am excited by two recent policy changes that the Obama administration has made which seem to indicate at very least a less restrictive interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act and perhaps more than that: perhaps a slow chipping away at the act itself.

First of all, today the New York Times printed an AP story reporting that the Census Bureau would in fact count same sex married couples as married. That reverses a Bush administration policy that I wrote about here explicitly stating that these couples could not be counted because DOMA prohibited the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages in any way. Apparently the Obama administration disagrees. Then again, the Obama administration also understands the need for accurate research and solid data when making policy decisions, and data provided by a census that did not count such marriages would be inherently flawed.

I don't know exactly what to make of these two decisions coming in one week. It could simply be a way for President Obama to deflect some of the criticism directed at him for not actively taking up the civil rights agenda he said he would champion. It could also be an indication that, while he needed initially to focus on the emergencies created by two wars and a crumbling financial system that he now has some time to spend on civil rights issues.

I'm curious about your own reactions: cynical or hopeful? Pessimistic or optimistic? Is one of those decisions more important or more telling than the other? Leave your reactions in the comments.

Trouble with the site?

We're still working out some kinks in our software and we want to know if you have any trouble while using the site. Please report any problems you are having and we will address the problem and get back to you as soon as we can. Use the "Contact" link in the sidebar or click the link below: